Cash flow, despite being one of the strongest indicators of financial health, often takes a backseat in many SMBs. While it's critical to have a seamless flow of funds, several factors push cash flow planning down the priority list. Let’s explore these reasons and their implications for SMBs, and how Silvr's solution helps you overcome them.
1. Consistent Lack of Time Allocated to Financing
For entrepreneurs, multitasking is part of the daily grind. With their diverse roles constantly fixing, doing, and improving, finding focused time for thorough financial planning often feels like a luxury. A survey by QuickBooks found that 66% of small business owners are unsatisfied with their daily time management due to juggling various responsibilities [2]. Given these pressures, it's understandable that structured cash flow planning can often take a back seat.
2. SMBs Still Rely On Manual Bookkeeping
Especially in today's digital landscape, businesses are overwhelmed with data - be it transaction histories, e-commerce metrics, or customer interactions. Yet, transforming this data into meaningful insights that kickstarts cash flow planning remains a challenge for business owners. A survey by SCORE highlighted that, even with the surge in tech solutions, a significant 16% of SMBs still rely on traditional manual bookkeeping entirely [3].
3. Banks' Limited Reach in Cash Flow Financing
As an SMB owner, understanding your financial health requires a deeper dive than what traditional banks offer. Most don't prioritise cash flow considerations because they're viewed as too short-term, leaving businesses without actionable insights. Furthermore, the average time it takes for a bank to process and deploy a loan can stretch over four weeks [4].
In terms of cash flow management products, banks often provide only overdraft options, which are typically expensive and extremely short-term (i.e. under one month repayment). While banks might have some solutions in place for overdraft, their limited scope and approach fail to truly cater to the dynamic needs of businesses.
Silvr: Next Generation Financial Services
Emerging fully online alternative financing platforms signal a fresh approach to financial products. These platforms, unlike traditional banks, efficiently address all cash flow needs ensuring businesses stay on top of the money owed and their incoming payments.
So, at Silvr, we aim to support your broader goals that banks cannot. Whether you're trying to improve your cash reserves, settle supplier bills, or address delays in client payments, we've got your back. With Silvr, you'll also have that extra financial cushion, ensuring you're always ready for unexpected expenses or new investment opportunities.
We can assist you as you grow through enhanced sales and recruitment, explore investment opportunities either abroad or locally, or champion impact-driven themes such as environmental and diversity initiatives. Our financing solutions are tailored to fit your specific needs.
With loan offerings ranging from 10K to 1 million EUR and flexible repayment durations of 1 to 12 months, Silvr's data-driven approach goes beyond mere feasibility to truly align with your business's unique financial requirements.
If you want to know more, check your financing eligibility with Silvr today.
Sources
[1] Source: European Central Bank. "Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE).”
[2] Source: QuickBooks. (2018). Small Business Challenges.
[3] Source: SCORE. (2019). Infographic: Small Business Accounting.
[4] Source: Federal Reserve. (2018). Small Business Credit Survey.
